Beetleworx

Beetleworx are enemies originally created by the Mad Doctor for Oswald. Beetleworx are first found at Mickeyjunk Mountain. Beetleworx used to help out in the Wasteland, but the new Beetleworx serve as soldiers and attack anything in their way. They're also programmed to hate Mickey, but can be turned friendly if Oswald reprograms them. They are largely immune to paint, but it can gum up their works and slow them down. The best way to destroy them is to thin out their Toon shells and hit the green weak spot, and repeat until they break. However, it is sometimes possible to slowly sneak up behind them and attack the spot before they can paint in their armor. This is good for keeping Tints, because destroying their shell will fill Mickey's Guardian gauge with green. However, it can take a lot longer to defeat them this way, and it doesn't work well for more than one at a time.

Because Oswald felt Mickey stole his fame and popularity, he was given types of Beetleworx made by the Mad Doctor that looked like Mickey's friends Donald, Daisy, and Goofy, to make him feel better. These are shown to be very friendly towards Mickey, since they were made before the Blot Wars. They have personalities very similar to Mickey's real friends. They are found in pieces scattered through the Wasteland, and can either be repaired, in which case they become friends, or left as they are.

Contents

Types of Beetleworx

Hoppers are the common variety of Beetleworx, and as their name implies, they hop around the levels and headbutt Mickey. Most of these Beetleworx are modeled after various birds, such as the vultures from The Jungle Book, which can be found in Ventureland and Lonesome Manor, and Scuttle from The Little Mermaid, found on Mickeyjunk Mountain, and some kind of droid found in Tomorrow City. While not confirmed, the closest thing one can find to an origin to this Hopper, is the body, which has been seen in Treasure Planet, as a jet engine. It should also be noted, that concept art of Petetronic has been confirmed to take after Long John Silver, from the same movie.

Bashers are cybernetic conversions of different characters. They carry swords and attack by spinning around. Some of Captain Hook's Crew have been converted into Bashers in Ventureland (and all Bashers use their fighting style). In Lonesome Manor, Bashers are designed to resemble skeletons and the ones in Tomorrow City are based on Maximilian from The Black Hole. As with all Beetleworx you will encounter, the armor can be thinned to reveal the green weak point on their backs. But be careful, for they will try to stop you from hitting it by spinning.

Spinners resemble mechanical spiders, and are equipped with buzz saws. One variety seems to be modeled after the skeleton spider from the short film, The Mad Doctor. Another model appears in Tomorrow City, however, its origins, like the Hopper mentioned above, are unknown. In the E3 building, a Spinner that has a toon Tea Cup overturned on its back has been shown. It is unknown why it was removed so close to the game's launch. The Tea Cup spinner can be seen by visiting the Clock Tower diorama in Epic Mickey 2 a second time.

Tankers are the strongest form of Beetleworx. They have heads of different Disney characters, bodies of different vehicles and objects, cannons for arms, and spider legs. Other than this, they appear to mainly have Disney Villain characteristics. Tankers can shoot Paint (which will knock Mickey back) from their right cannon and Thinner (which will cause damage to Mickey) from their left. The first Tanker, one that resides in Tomorrow City, has a golden light cycle, from Tron, for a body. It has also been revealed by the bonus DVD one could receive with the Collector's Edition, that the head of the Raptor, from the Turo Prison Block, and his gun, which can be seen in the prologue of Lilo and Stitch. The second Tanker, one seen during the fight with the Mad Doctor (or in the ballroom should Mickey destroy the Pipe Organ's keys), has the head of the hag form of Queen Grimhilde, the titular character's evil step-mother from Snow Whiteand the poison apple for a body. A third variety appears in Floatyard, based on Ursula. The picture above shows a scrapped variety with the head of Hades from Hercules, the plasma blasters from Gantu's ship (from the scene in the prologue where Gantu has Stitch trapped, on the way to deliver him to exile), and Mickey's car as a body. This scrapped Beetleworx was revealed during the Game Informer era of the game, and was seen in the then-surrealistic "Gremlin Village" locale. Despite the fact the Hades Tanker was scrapped, it served as the body design of the other two (not counting the shells). In Epic Mickey 2, however, the scrapped Hades Tanker can be seen by visiting the Shadow Blot Diorama a second time.

Trivia

Originally, many of the Beetleworx had a much more steampunk look to them, and came in many other varieties. They include but are not limited to: a Spatter that has been merged with various mechanical parts which include a fire extinguisher and the head of a ghoul from the Haunted Mansion as one of its shoulders, a Country Bear-headed scorpion robot, a giant Dumbo-faced transport vehicle, and a giant fusion of Jafar, Goofy, Donald, Tick-Tock, Tigger, Jose Carioca, and a Spinner. Another example features in the "Beach Attack" art, which looked like the Dwarfs mutated into giant spider-like beings with teacups on the back from which extended arms that ended with the typical Mickey Glove, these may have been reworked into the Spinners in the final game.

Following the defeat of the Mad Doctor in the first Epic Mickey, Mickey will no longer encounter any Beetleworx enemies for the remainder of the game.

Concept art that appears to be a Spatter merged with mechanical parts may be the inspiration for the Blotworx in the sequel.

The Hades-type Beetleworx, mentioned above, was also revealed alongside a piece of music that was also scrapped from the game. This can be heard in the "Sketching Mickey" extra on Game Informer's website.

There was another Beetleworx variety that didn't make it into the game, although unlike the other varieties (with the exception of the Hades Tanker mentioned above), it got as for as being animated. This Beetleworx had the head of Jiminy Cricket, the body of Mickey's trailer from the 1938 cartoon of the same name, and the legs of Dumbo.

Late in the game, the Mad Doctor is revealed to be a Beetleworx; having realized the Blot's plan to drain all the Paint in Wasteland, he modified himself to be able to survive-and rule over-the remains of the world as its conqueror with his animatronic creations.

Mickey can use TV Sketches in order to destroy Hoppers instantly, and stall any other type of Beetleworx. If Mickey throws a Watch Sketch as well, Mickey can get behind them and strike their weak spot again. This is most useful against Tankers and Bashers, the latter who has less predictability than the other three types. Or, alternatively, Mickey may escape, break objects, deal with other enemies, etc.

When the pirates are transformed into robots by this process, it bears similarity to Doctor Eggman's Roboticizer from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

In Epic Mickey 2, both the scrapped Hades Tanker and Tea Cup Spinner can be found by revisiting the dioramas.

Except for the Hopper found underneath Ostown, the Beetleworx in Epic Mickey 2 can only be reprogrammed by having Oswald reprogram the control pads connected to the Beetleworx generators that need to be painted in.

If a second player controls Oswald, any individual Beetleworx can be manually reprogrammed by having Mickey thin out it's shell and then having Oswald fire a beam of electricity at them to enter the Reprogramming Sequence.

Unused files show that a possible name for the Jiminy Cricket Beetleworx variety was going to be called a Lifter.[1]

The Bomber form of Beetleworx that was scrapped from the game. Note the hidden Mickey placed on a tear in his pants.

This is a type of Beetleworx that was scrapped completely. Its head is Jiminy Cricket, its body is Mickey's Trailer (from the "Mickey's Trailer" cartoon), and its legs are Dumbo's. Plus, doesn't that claw look like its arm?

The unused "Splatter" Beetleworx.

The unused "Country Bear" Beetleworx.

The unused "Pink Elephant head" Beetleworx.

A type of Beetleworx that looks like a Spinner, Jafar, Tick-Tock, Goofy, Donald, Jose Carioca, and a demonic version of Tigger combined known as the Jumbler and that was scrapped from the game.